Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox (14 page)

Also, garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour and coconut flour are meant to be secondary flours only (that is, used after a primary flour, such as almond or sesame seed) because the carbohydrate content of garbanzo bean flour is a bit high and coconut flour will yield too dense and dry of an end product if used alone. For example: 3 cups sesame flour + ½ cup garbanzo bean flour, or 3 cups almond flour + ¼ cup coconut flour. You will find that combining such flours or meals in this fashion improves the structure of the end product.

Choose from:

•
Chia seed and flour

•
Coconut flour

•
Garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour

•
Ground golden flaxseeds

•
Hazelnut meal

•
Lupin flour

•
Peanut meal and flour

•
Pecan meal

•
Psyllium seed, ground

•
Pumpkin seed meal

•
Sesame seed meal

•
Sunflower seed meal

•
Walnut meal

The term
meal
refers to the end product of grinding
whole
nuts or seeds, including skins;
flour
refers to the end product from grinding
blanched
nuts with their skins removed, sometimes with the oils pressed out, yielding a finer flour texture and lighter end result after baking. Flours are the preferred form when a fine texture is desired, as in a cake. Otherwise, the less expensive meals will do just fine. Seeds will generally be ground from the whole seed, as removing the skins would be too laborious.

All flours should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container to slow oxidation. Alternatively, buy your nuts and seeds whole and grind only as much as you need for the recipe at hand.

Just to be absolutely clear, we avoid flours ground from:

•
Amaranth, teff, millet, chestnut, buckwheat, quinoa

•
Gluten-free flours: cornstarch, rice flour, potato flour, tapioca starch

WHEAT
BELLY DETOX-FRIENDLY OILS

Remember: In the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, we
want
fats and oils in our diet. We do not cut back on fats or oils, but
increase
them. Contrary to the blundering health advice of the last half-century, fats and oils do not make you fat; they help you
lose
weight. Fats and oils do not trigger insulin, the hormone of weight gain, nor do they increase risk for cardiovascular disease. Further, they generate satiety—feeling full and satisfied. But it is best if you choose your oils wisely. Oils that were previously thought to be unhealthy, such as coconut oil and palm oil due to saturated fat content, now make a glorious return in our healthy lifestyle. We also don't trim the fat off of poultry, beef, pork, or fish, and we don't skim the gelatin and fat off our soup or stock, even when using fats like lard and tallow in our cooking (provided they are not hydrogenated by the manufacturer, if purchased).

Among the best oils to choose are:

•
Butter and ghee (preferably organic)

•
Coconut oil

•
Extra-virgin olive oil or extra-light olive oil for baking

•
Flaxseed oil

•
Lard and tallow—saved from your own cooking or purchased (look for types that aren't hydrogenated)

•
Macadamia oil

•
Palm oil, red palm oil (preferably from sustainable sources)

•
Walnut oil

Consider adding healthy fats and oils at every meal opportunity: whipping melted coconut oil or butter into coffee, gener
ously
adding extra-virgin olive oil to scrambled or fried eggs, using melted coconut oil or avocado oil in your smoothie or shake. Of course, you can also feel free to savor fatty cuts of meat as well. Get more fat, and you will be able to navigate this lifestyle more smoothly.

We avoid or minimize corn oil (which also contains residues of grain proteins), vegetable oils, safflower oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, and soybean oil, as they tend to weigh the diet too heavily with omega-6 oils. Though omega-6s are among the essential oils, large quantities of them are unhealthy. (The small quantity of such oils in a vitamin D capsule or other supplement is likely harmless. It's the larger intakes we are trying to avoid, such as the amount used in cooking or in processed foods.)

WHEAT BELLY DETOX-SAFE SWEETENERS

There are safe sweeteners and there are not-so-safe sweeteners that can introduce potential problems. Let's stick with the safest sweeteners of all.

The key with our choice of sweeteners is to choose the sweetener or combination of sweeteners you like most and stick with it. This way, you will be comfortable with how your sweetener behaves and tastes in various dishes, and you'll have the least surprises. Also, recall that, as you proceed through changes in taste perception during the 10-Day Detox and onward, less and less sweetener will be required. All recipes in this book that rely on safe sweeteners therefore should be adjusted to your individual taste. (This can be a special challenge, for example, if you have achieved a highly sensitive palate to sweetness, thereby requiring very little sweetener, while the family not yet following this lifestyle still desires extreme sweetness to be satisfied. You will have to choose which palate to accommodate.)

Among our top picks for safe sweeteners is stevia, a natural
sweetener
from the stevia plant. Unfortunately, some people experience a sharp metallic aftertaste with it. For this reason,
combining
sweeteners can be a useful strategy. Combine stevia with erythritol or monk fruit, for example, and less stevia will be
required
and the aftertaste will be reduced or eliminated. (See
Appendix B
for a list of premixed sweetener combinations.)

Safe sweetener choices include:

STEVIA.
Stevia is the natural sweetener from the stevia plant. Look for pure liquid stevia, pure powdered stevia, or powdered stevia with inulin; avoid stevia with maltodextrin, since maltodextrin is a form of sugar. My favorite is pure powdered stevia; though pricey, it is so concentrated that a tiny amount goes a long way and a container will last a while.

MONK FRUIT.
Also known as lo han guo, monk fruit is a rising star in the world of benign sweeteners. A growing number of people like this sweetener due to its clean, sweet taste without the aftertaste some people perceive with stevia. It may be tricky to find but is becoming increasingly available.

ERYTHRITOL.
Erythritol is a natural sweetener found in fruit that has approximately 70 percent of the sweetness of sugar. Taking into account your increasing sensitivity to sweetness, you can use erythritol, spoonful for spoonful, just as you would sugar. It is especially useful combined with stevia.

XYLITOL.
Xylitol is the most sugarlike of our choice of sweeteners and can be useful for glazing and streusel effects in baking. We use xylitol only in limited quantities, however, because it has a modest capacity to raise blood sugar. And dog owners should know that xylitol can be toxic to dogs.

INULIN.
Inulin is a fiber with a light sweetness that is best used in combination with other sweeteners. It also acts as a prebiotic fiber or resistant starch that can, unlike other forms of such fibers, be resistant to heating and not degrade to sugars.

THE WHEAT BELLY 10-DAY DETOX MENU PLAN

While there's nothing fancy or complicated in this Menu Plan—no
rillette de canard
nor other tongue-twisting French gourmet
dishes
here—I believe that you will nonetheless enjoy putting these recipes together while gaining the incredible benefits of eating without the health impairment from grains.

We need to bear in mind that energy and motivation may hit a low point as you proceed through your wheat and grain withdrawal process. You may find that even the easiest, most common tasks, such as getting the kids off to school or keeping up with your social schedule, seem impossibly demanding, let alone having to put together an entirely new menu. The recipes provided are therefore simple, tasty, and consistent with Wheat Belly principles, placing as little strain as possible on top of your early detoxification experience while providing maximum benefit.

You will be pleasantly surprised with the variety of flavors you'll experience when eating without grains, especially as you reacquire the heightened sense of taste that typically develops over the first few days to weeks of grain detoxification. I recognize that you may be the primary meal preparer in the family, so I've also included recipes that are spouse-friendly and kid-friendly. To expand your arsenal of recipes to satisfy the family, you can also supplement family meals with dishes using the recipes in
Chapters 6
and
7
. Feel free to use these additional recipes anytime during your detox experience, as well as afterward, if you are up to the task.

As you proceed through your 10-Day Menu Plan, you will see that we make no effort to reduce fat, pour off excess oils, limit calories or portions, or other unnecessary, even counterproductive, maneuvers. These are not oversights—they're intentional. While most people experience a dramatic reduction in appetite within the 10 days of their detox, we do not purposefully reduce or count calories—it will happen naturally and effortlessly, especially if you augment the amount of healthy fats and oils in your diet. So even if a dish on this menu is packed with fat and calories (as many are),
nobody
should be sweating these issues—eat it, enjoy it.

Most
of the dishes are prepared from “scratch,” meaning some extra effort is involved compared to just microwaving a frozen dinner. This is also intentional, as it is difficult to obtain truly healthy foods that are preprepared. You can also eat with greater confidence when you control the ingredients. A few time-saving foods are used, such as prepared mayonnaise and tomato sauce, but just be sure to examine the label for problem ingredients, though it is always an option to make your own. (A recipe for Homemade Marinara Sauce is included
here
. Recipes for healthy homemade mayonnaise and other condiments and sauces can be found in the
Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook.
)

I recognize that there is effort involved in preparing these recipes that can pose special challenges while you are wallowing in the throes of your wheat and grain withdrawal and struggling with fatigue. Should you not be up to the task for a meal or for a day, you can substitute easier dishes, perhaps one you've prepared
in
the past without a recipe, such as an omelet for breakfast or just a simple steak and salad for dinner, or use the leftovers from prior Detox Menu Plan recipes. Just be sure to adhere to the rule of no wheat or grains, limiting carbohydrate exposure to no more than 15 grams net carbs per meal, and carefully choose products such as salad dressing that are free of problem grain and sugar ingredients (use olive oil and vinegar, for instance, or salsa, pico de gallo, infused olive oils, or other safe products). This way, you can have your meal and not impair your progress. Once again, if you choose to skip your Detox Shake for breakfast, just include it later in the day or use an alternative source of prebiotic fibers.